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Friday, November 14, 2014

Nook Pioneer Theresa Horner Leaves Barnes and Noble

Theresa Horner the VP, Digital Content at Barnes & Noble has left the company. Depending on who you talk to she was either fired or left on her own volition. She played a pivitol role in the formation of the Nook division since its launch in 2011. The last major project she spearheaded was the second generation self-publishing system, Nook Press. Doug Carlson, CMO and EVP of Digital Content and he is now running Nook Press.

Barnes and Noble has lost over one billion dollars with the entire Nook division, that includes eBooks, e-readers and tablets. Over last year they have replaced much of the old guard and replaced them with fresh new talent. Some of the most notable departures in the last year was Jim Hilt, head of global eBook sales, and before him digital products director Jamie Iannone and VP of digital products Bill Saperstein.

The hope with the new talent is to bring fresh prospective to the entire Nook experience and this is evident in the recent initiative Sync-Up. This is a new system that allows customers who buy a print book to be able to get a discount on the digital edition. Another byproduct of the new blood is the fact Nook outsourced the hardware for their new tablet line to Samsung, instead of developing everything in-house, like they did in the past.

Update: Apparently Barnes and Noble is cleaning house right now in the Nook division and many people are afraid of losing their jobs.